It is likely that the cash in Mexico have your days numbered. This is because before the end of 2025, the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) will launch a digital currency with three basic functions:
It can be used as a means of payment, it will be a unit of account and it will have the virtue of being a store of value. In addition, it will use SPEI (Interbank Electronic Payment System) as a basis to be able to function.
Why is Mexico releasing a digital currency now?
The reason why Banxico decided to take one Digital weight is to be ad hoc to the international trend and also respond to the needs of Mexicans, since in the country 90% of transactions under 500 pesos are made with cash.
So far so good, let’s say. But now let’s talk about the drawbacks: although up to now no official from the Bank of Mexico has spoken about the disappearance of the peso in paper or metal, the tendency is for its use to decline, especially due to the expense in its manufacture.
The Mexican digital currency decreases manufacturing costs
In general terms, it is estimated that the total cost of producing banknotes and coins in Mexico is around 4,000 million pesos. This includes the acquisition of materials, machinery, inputs necessary for production, labor costs, and security associated with the production and transportation of banknotes and coins.
And yes, we could say that with the disappearance of physical weight, the historical sequence is also lost a bit. It was in pre-Hispanic times when cocoa, feathers and precious stones were used as currency.
Brief history of Mexican coins and bills
In 1536, the New Spanish pesos appeared, in 1821 the minting of gold and silver coins began, and in this same period the famous 8 real coin came out, which had great influence even in China.
Now we must put the drawbacks of digital currency at the center. As already stated above, Banxico indicates that 90% of transactions under 500 pesos are made with cash, so in the event that paper and metal are totally displaced, the government would be aware of even our smallest expenses.
Is a digital currency absolutely good for Mexico?
What we buy, where we buy them and when we buy them, would be data about us that the public administration would have. And what would be wrong? some will wonder. The answer is that there is nothing wrong with it, as long as the government is run by people far from totalitarian tendencies.
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